English

Magnetic Field Structure of Orion Source I

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics 2020-06-26 v2 Astrophysics of Galaxies

Abstract

We observed polarization of the SiO rotational transitions from Orion Source I (SrcI) to probe the magnetic field in bipolar outflows from this high mass protostar. Both 43 GHz JJ=1-0 and 86 GHz JJ=2-1 lines were mapped with \sim20 AU resolution, using the Very Large Array (VLA) and Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA), respectively. The 28^{28}SiO transitions in the ground vibrational state are a mixture of thermal and maser emission. Comparison of the polarization position angles in the JJ=1-0 and JJ=2-1 transitions allows us to set an upper limit on possible Faraday rotation of 10410^{4} radians m2^{-2}, which would twist the JJ=2-1 position angles typically by less than 10 degrees. The smooth, systematic polarization structure in the outflow lobes suggests a well ordered magnetic field on scales of a few hundred AU. The uniformity of the polarization suggests a field strength of \sim30 milli-Gauss. It is strong enough to shape the bipolar outflow and possibly lead to sub-Keplerian rotation of gas at the base of the outflow. The strikingly high fractional linear polarizations of 80-90% in the 28^{28}SiO vv=0 masers require anisotropic pumping. We measured circular polarizations of 60% toward the strongest maser feature in the vv=0 JJ=1-0 peak. Anisotropic resonant scattering (ARS) is likely to be responsible for this circular polarization. We also present maps of the 29^{29}SiO vv=0 JJ=2-1 maser and several other SiO transitions at higher vibrational levels and isotopologues.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2005.13077,
  title  = {Magnetic Field Structure of Orion Source I},
  author = {Tomoya Hirota and Richard L. Plambeck and Melvyn C. H. Wright and Masahiro N. Machida and Yuko Matsushita and Kazuhito Motogi and Mi Kyoung Kim and Ross A. Burns and Mareki Honma},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2005.13077},
  year   = {2020}
}

Comments

71 pages, 57 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal

R2 v1 2026-06-23T15:50:19.960Z